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Friday, August 13, 2010

One man is missing and a 51-year old woman is recovering in hospital after a home in Sussex Corner has been destroyed by an explosion. Emergency crews were called to the home on the Post Road just after six o'clock to find it flattened.

RCMP Sargeant Bruce Reid tells CHSJ News, they continue to interview people who were in the area when the explosion happened. Crews were on the scene until after midnight and the fire marshall will inspect the area to try and piece together what triggered the explosion today.

Neighbours are still in shock and waiting to find out what rocked their homes.

Melanie Hawthorne lives around the corner from where the home was destroyed and tells CHSJ News, the explosion was heard miles from her front door.

Hawthorne tells CHSJ News, the owner of the destroyed home is Harvey Goddard who works with explosives for a living at the mines in Sussex and Pennobsquis but has had the home up for sale.

If you are up early tomorrow morning, be aware a wide load of equipment for the Irving Oil refinery will be making it's way through the city.

At 5am, the wide load which is 18 feet long will be moving from King William Road in Lorneville to Bayside Drive.

The load will have a police escort along Pedestrian and Traffic Services crews who will be removing traffic lights at certain intersections and Saint John Energy crews will be moving electrical wires.

Motorists should expect delays along the route.The load is expected to reach the refinery by 1 o'clock tomorrow afternoon.

The load will travel King William Road to Ocean Westway to Manawagonish Road to Fairville Boulevard. The route then takes the Reversing Falls Bridge to Douglas Avenue to Main Street North. The load will go up Union Street via the Viaduct, then take Crown Street and Thorne Avenue to Bayside Drive.

A boil water order remains in effect for residents of the Dominion Park Area.

On July 30th, Saint John Water isused a localized boil water order for about 25 homes on Tippett Drive including Mary's Place, Mackie Lane and Cove Roadway.

It was expanded August 3rd to include 75 residents of the Greenhead road after the bridge.Work will begin on the 23rd to clean and line a section of watermain on Greenhead road which officials believe will improve the area's water quality.

Four prominent Provincial business leaders have been named to the Junior Achievement New Brunswick Business Hall of Fame. The 2010 laureates are Former Premier Frank McKenna, Bill and Ed Barrett and Jean-Claude Savoie.

Bill and Ed Barrett are Co-CEOs of Barrett Corporation based in Woodstock while Jean-Claude Savoie is the President of a hardwood processing company in St-Quentin.All four will be inducted into the Business Hall of Fame at the gala dinner in November at the Trade and Convention Centre.

You may see red when driving or walking down King Street today.The City has painted the bus lane in front of City hall red with white lettering indicating that is a bus lane.

Communications Officer Leah Fitzgerald tells CHSJ News they chose this spot because people have been misusing it as a right-turning lane and they want to increase safety for pedestrians at the foot of King Street.Fitzgerald adds it is a bit of pilot project and residents may see may red bus lanes where the safety of those using the bus has been an issue.

Mayor Ivan Court is confident Saint John can complete its projects before the deadline for stimulus funding arrives. Court tells CHSJ News there is a lot of pressure in Ottawa right now as different bodies want to make sure projects can be finished on time.

Court says the contracts just came in for 16 new road projects and the water projects they wanted to get started in the city, thanks to permission from both levels of government.

Five young people have been nabbed by the RCMP for a number of tire slashings and other mischief in the Oromocto and Lincoln areas. The mayhem occurred on the night of August 3rd.

The five were arrested during an investigation that began on August 12th when an off duty RCMP officer, who was going to work, came across a vehicle that was abandoned in a ditch in the Rusagonis area after being stolen the night before.

Longtime baseball coach Vic Fitzgerald says emotions were running a bit high all week long between the Saint John All Stars and the players from Valleyfield, Quebec.

Fitzgerald is a District Director for Little League Canada and he concedes handling teenagers, who are 15 and 16 years of age, can be difficult at the best of times but especially so when those emotions boil over.

He doesn't know what sort of penalities might be handed out after a disciplinary hearing. Suspensions have been mentioned for players and coaches.

Fitzgerald is also a former member of Common Council and tells CHSJ News he realises how much money hosting these types of tournaments can generate for the city. He's hoping the melee won't prevent Saint John from hosting such tournaments in the future.